Overcoming poverty was a fight for success

Sunday

Apr 21, 2013 at 6:00 AM

“Rags to Riches” an article by Eric Besson about Dean Daigneault in the Gumbo magazine showed me that Dean Daigneault is living proof that it is possible to leave the “poor” level of existence and elevate yourself and your family to a level of prestige and honor.

Irene MichelColumnist

“Rags to Riches” an article by Eric Besson about Dean Daigneault in the Gumbo magazine showed me that Dean Daigneault is living proof that it is possible to leave the “poor” level of existence and elevate yourself and your family to a level of prestige and honor.The first time I saw Dean, he was a pre-teen, living about a half-mile from where we lived. I was slightly younger, if Dean’s age is correct in the article. I should catch up in July when I have my next birthday.However, it wasn’t Dean I looked at. He had the cutest little sister you could ever imagine. She was probably pre-school age at the time. I also remember Herc, but I think he was a bit older and I could remember him better probably as a teenager or slightly older. Time often plays tricks on us. We can’t remember some things very clearly and other things are right there in memory seemingly as close as yesterday.Dean graduated from high school the same year I did. I don’t recall if he was one of the guys in our class who enlisted before graduation. I do know that several of our classmates enlisted at that time. Patriotism was extremely high then, and everyone did all they could for the war effort. I remember one young man who used to knit squares during our history class for the war effort. Everyone was so proud of him, and of the many others who knit squares to assist in the war effort during World War II.Dean’s story is common in that people used education as a stepping stone to a better life. Our teachers promoted education, but the children had to want to learn. Back then, the youth of Terrebonne Parish didn’t number as many as there are today, and we had only one public high school, Terrebonne High. Many students took advantage of that one public high school. Some didn’t finish the entire four years, but hauling themselves up by their bootstraps they overcame poverty. I knew a few who did not complete the entire course of study available to students at Terrebonne High, but through volunteer work and their unselfish efforts to rear their families without public assistance, hoisted themselves from poverty, perhaps not to riches but to more comfortable circumstances.Back then, high school encompassed eighth, ninth, 10th and 11th grades. There was no 12th grade. When we graduated in 1945, we knew a 12th grade would be added, but I can’t remember when it was added. I married a little over a year after graduation, and our family of eight sons, a daughter and a foster child followed. We managed all those children without the aid of public assistance by careful budgeting and sometimes loans from relatives. Our first house was purchased furnished a few years after we married for less than $5,000, and that amount was hard to come by.Unlike Dean, I did not attend any university, but our parents had taught us well. We knew the basics of good living: hard work, honesty and a desire to achieve. My husband received his high school diploma fairly recently. Gov. Bobby Jindal had announced that men who fought in World War II and had not received their high school diploma could apply for it. All our children were there for the presentation. It proved to be one of those shining moments in my husband’s life.We watched as Daigneault’s life unfolded. We noted when he married into that wonderful family, when he became a pharmacist, when he was elected to public office several times, all the result of a man who was determined to prove himself to be more than a baby born in a cabin minus the comforts found in modern-day housing.We can all be proud of Dean Daigneault and people like him who overcame poverty and made a better life for themselves and their families.

Irene C. Michel, a native of Terrebonne Parish, is a columnist for The Courier and Daily Comet. She can be reached at 876-3252 or ICMwriter84@gmail.com.